Integrated medical facility announced for Queenstown’s Remarkables Park

Plans have been announced today for the development of an integrated medical facility for Queenstown on land fully zoned for medical services at Remarkables Park.

It is to be centrally located for the wider Queenstown urban area on Hawthorne Drive, within easy reach of the airport and the State Highways to the north and south.

The planned 6,000m2 facility will house a diverse and complementary range of medical specialities including an MRI Unit, announced by Pacific Radiology today, to be established initially in a relocatable facility at Remarkables Park in the first quarter of 2017.

The proposed integrated medical facility has a number of confirmed providers taking tenancies in the building, with the intention of closely integrating their services around a private hospital and radiology imaging unit.

Proposed services include Skin Institute Queenstown, surgical endoscopy services, a leading New Zealand eye clinic, General Practice including an Urgent Care clinic and surgical consultants of all major specialities. A joint venture with a large New Zealand private hospital provider will increase access to surgery and clinical investigations not previously available to Queenstown residents and visitors to the Lakes District region.

Leading edge technology companies including Queenstown Regenerative Medicine’s stem cell laboratory, and a potential partnership with a new immunotherapy clinic from Australia, will further enhance Queenstown’s attraction for innovative new health services.

As a result of ongoing enquiries, the design of the new medical building is evolving and further additions are anticipated. The current design has four storeys, however zoning allows for six levels enabling additional health providers to be easily accommodated, further enhancing the integrated health co-location benefits this facility will provide.

Many years in the planning, the project is the vision of Dr Hans Raetz, director of Skin Institute Queenstown, and Remarkables Park Ltd chief executive Alastair Porter. They were both confident the facility would be welcomed by the wider Queenstown community.

Dr Raetz said “there’s no doubt Queenstown is famous for its extraordinary location, however that presents challenges when it comes to accessing medical services and specialists.”

Mr Porter said the high rate of growth in Queenstown means it will end up as the third largest population base in the South Island.

“In fact, combining visitor and local numbers it already achieves that status from time to time. As such, it is highly desirable that a much wider range of medical services becomes available in Queenstown,” said Mr Porter.

The first of these services to open will be the MRI unit provided by world-class medical imaging provider Pacific Radiology.

Dr Lance Lawler, chief executive of Pacific Radiology Group, said his team recognised the critical need for their MRI services in the Queenstown region.

“The need for MRI services in the Southern Lakes region is so significant that we’re opening our facility ahead of the main medical building in a relocatable structure on the future integrated facility site at Remarkables Park. We believe in acting quickly to best service local and visitor needs and so we expect to be operational from Autumn 2017,” said Dr Lawler.

Dr Raetz said “it’s very rewarding to see this integrated health project becoming a reality and great to have the support of a whole range of healthcare professionals who want to establish their services here. We can also make more space available for other health professional services. We welcome Pacific Radiology’s MRI unit as a key anchor for what will become a busy and essential facility for Queenstown.”

Design for the $20million building is now underway and it’s expected construction work could begin in 2017. Equipment and medical fit-out costs are expected to be more than $10million.

Mr Porter indicated that adjacent land has also been set aside for future expansion of medical facilities, related services and senior living opportunities.
ENDS

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